Return to the Past: A Code Lyoko Retrospective

Remember Code Lyoko? That show with the foreheads? The one you used to half-watch while you waited for Teen Titans to come on? The RTTP crew remembers. Join Mary, Ben, and David as we discuss this dorky, cheesy, weirdly touching, occasionally brilliant, underrated relic of early noughties kid culture. Bring your skateboard, y’hear?
Follow us on Twitter at @rttppodcast, or send us your feedback at rttppodcast@gmail.com!
Cover art by Ingram. Find more of their work at http://www.ingramcomix.com or @ingramcomix.
Opening: "Un Monde Sans Danger" by Noam Kaniel
Outro: "S'Envoler" (Generique Fin) by The Subdigitals, Franck Keller, and Ygal Amar

It's the episode you've been waiting for, maybe! Mary, Ben, and David finally answer their email and give a six-Pokémon team to every Lyoko Warrior. If a trio of bumbling dorks awkwardly mispronouncing Pokémon names is your idea of fun, give us a click and let the good times roll! If you still get flashbacks to that one commercial where Zack and Cody overemphasize the é in Pokémon (you know the one we mean), maybe steer clear of this one.

When we're done upsetting the weebs in our audience, it's time to read some fanfic! Each one of your humble hosts read the first few chapters of a recommended Code Lyoko fanfic, and we're ready to present our book reports to the whole class. Doctor Who subbing for Mrs. Hertz? Deep and intricate monster societies? A transfer student OC that doesn't suck? You made it all up; now we're repackaging it and selling it right back to you. Hey, don't forget to give us money on Patreon!

Folklorists speculate that zombies are popular because they let us indulge in guilt-free fantasies about inflicting violence on the people around us. Code Lyoko decided that that's as good an excuse as any to finally show us cartoon children beating the snot out of each other. The Super Nuclear group concludes that that is actually kind of hilarious. But that's not all! In addition to the violence, there's ridiculously inappropriate nudity as well. Unless you're in France, I guess. Silly Europeans! When will you learn to be ashamed of your bodies?

As usual, Mary, Ben, and David are here to gently spread a soothing ointment on your burning questions. How hard does the show try to make you forget it's set in France? (Very.) How many plot contrivances are there to explain why the children can't count on the adults to defend them from the zombie horde? (One, and it's fainting. Lots and lots of fainting.) Did the gaggle of bozos that pass for podcast hosts around here finally make up Pokémon teams for the Lyoko Warriors, as requested in that email a couple weeks ago? (No, but ask us again next week.)

At the end of most episodes of Return to the Past, your humble hosts ask themselves this question: are we going to give this episode a perfect ten, or merely a nine point five? This time, however, there's a radical difference of opinion! Are you on #TeamDavidAndMary, or are you on #TeamBen? As is so often the case, your answer probably depends on your feelings toward Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2.

Are Aelita's sick grinds pointless, or radical? Is Yumi's dad running around in full samurai regalia badass, or goofy? Is the return of the Ulrich/Yumi/William love triangle and embarrassing cliché, or the very reason we remember these characters so fondly? You be the judge! (And then listen for the correct answer from Mary and David. This episode rules.)

But that's not all! This is another theory-heavy episode! Wanna hear our latest thoughts on the mystery of Jim Morales's past? ...no? Well, crap. That's okay, though. Some internet content isn't for everyone.

Okay, so remember how I said all that stuff about Common Interest and how it took the show's subject matter to a new level but ultimately didn't follow through in the way it should have? Imagine another Common Interest, but with a plot that DOES follow through from start to finish. Mostly.

Meet Temptation, the most thought-provoking episode of Code Lyoko yet. At least for Mary, aka me, for whom the entire reason she still loves Code Lyoko clicks in this episode.

Join us as we dissect childhood perspectives, face our adult fears, and also do a lot of the usual nonsense like inventing a Sonic podcast (Return to the Fast) and answering an age - old question: would you rather fight a hundred duck-size horses or one horse-size duck?

More than any other episode, Common Interest really hammers home how BOLD Code Lyoko was willing to be. Even after 13 years we're still stunned that we saw Aelita almost succumb to heart failure three times in one day, or Jeremie handling raw uranium as he struggled to keep the supercomputer alive, or XANA facing off against a military transport armed with very present and realistic guns. Still not sure how that one got on Cartoon Network in the days when cops shot laser beams and heroes never said die.

Which makes it all the more disappointing when we go back to it after 13 years and discover all the weird pacing in the Lyoko bits, plus the glaring plot holes that we never noticed as kids. But darn it all if it isn't still good!

It's also been a long week for Mary, David, and Ben, which means that they're SUPER excited but also super distracted. But that means you'll get to hear Ben explain the history of Juggalos, David highlight the world's stealthiest Back to the Future reference, and Mary rant and rave about the EXTREMELY WRONG PLACEMENT of the Ultimate Impostor on the Dangan Ronpa 2 McDonald's Triangle.

For the first time in possibly ever, the Super Nuclear group disagrees about the content of an episode! Is it the greatest thing ever, or just pretty darn great? Do the surprisingly off-model designs undercut the shipping possibilities? Come listen to your favorite trio of childish dingbats argue about cartoons for an hour and a half! The Homestuck references have never come at you faster.

Plus, an important public service announcement in the first few minutes of the episode!

NOTE: David's computer crashed at about the half-hour mark of this episode. We /think/ we were able to recover all the audio, but if any of Mary and Ben's conversations around that point don't make sense it's because David's bit may be missing.

Hey-yo! It's the Super Nuclear group, making up for our absence last week with an extra-long episode aimed directly at your eager faces. And what an episode it is!

We're finally at the 'Going back in time to win the lottery' storyline, which gives us a surprising amount of insight into several characters' personalities, including Ulrich, Yumi, and your personal favorite,* Yumi's dad.

We also dive into an interpretation of Yumi's family dynamic that may or may not freak Mary's bean. And also one about how Aelita is secretly Jesus. (Thanks for that last one, anonymous emailer!)

Well, they can't all be winners. Missing Link does have its peaks: there's a fascinating moment of complexity and defiance for Jeremie and Aelita, a mysteriously magnanimous Sissi, and drama in the house of Ishiyama. But the premise is ridiculous, the stakes are medium rare, and the entire plot hinges on whether or not a (presumably) white girl can be made to look like a Japanese girl for a class photo.

Note that episode of Code Lyoko carries a content warning for racist and transmisogynistic themes.

Good news, everyone - once again Principal Delmas has deigned to let these kids have fun! This episode is a triumph in a lot of ways - it gives Aelita a great connection to the human world, it gives William a chance to not be attached to Yumi's hip all the time, and it serves up That Good Drama as Jeremie fails to comprehend that Aelita can have interests and a social life not connected to him. The Lyoko action does kinda create a dip in the back half, but we do forgive things like that.

Tune in for only the finest goofs about Jim undergoing mitosis, naked confusion about publicly announced exam results, and, naturally, farts.

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NOTE: Patreon has walked back its plans to increase donor fees, so we will be sticking with the service for now! The Saint Valentine's Day commentary will remain in the main feed. Thank you for your patience!

Hello, my friends! As we said in the last episode description, Patreon has recently announced its plans to increase its donor fees by 2.9%+35 cents per pledge. We don't want our donors to pay this ridiculous extra cost, and I (Mary, typing this) am pretty peeved that it will especially burden lower-income creators and donors and driving them away from a service they once depended on for their livelihoods.

In light of this news, and until Patreon responds to the MASSIVE negative feedback it's received, our continued use of Patreon is uncertain. There is a variety of other services we can move to, but we haven't had the chance to conference on this yet. In the meantime, though, we're going to slip y'all a bonus and release this week's bonus content on the main feed!

Note that this episode was recorded before the announcement, AND that it is explicit-rated! Swears on swears on swears!

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We watched Saint Valentine's Day before we recorded our episode about it, and recorded our live commentary!

This can be listened to on its own or in synchronicity with Saint Valentine's Day (We watched the Youtube version.) Just hit play when we say go! (If you listen on your own there'll be lots of dead air. Just a heads up.) Note that we pause in the middle at one point because David fell outta sync.

It's been a long couple of weeks, but the band is finally back together! (Us, we mean. Mary, Ben, and David, not the Foxtrot Fanatics. We apologize for the immense disappointment you are currently experiencing.)

In this episode, it's Valentine's Day (the day all lovers celebrate), and because we love you all so much, we're celebrating with ninety minutes of relentless Odd/Aelita shipping AND a haphazard attempt to shoehorn Code Lyoko into the Marvel universe! And also, for the first time ever, we're introducing a brand-new lovable holiday mascot*!

NOTE: This episode was recorded before Patreon's recent announcement about its decision to increase donor fees by 2.9%+35 cents per donation (ie, a lot). Our continued use of Patreon is currently uncertain. We will have a solution in place before the fees are slated to go into effect.

In the meantime, in lieu of bonus content on Patreon this week, keep an eye on the main feed tomorrow!

Thank you so much for your patience during our break! We are BACK and ready to get this Season 2 train a movin'! (And you know the season 2 train MAKES NO STOPS.)

Unfortunately, it is David who could not be with us this week, as he was very ill and had lost his voice. But he's with us in spirit (and episode ratings) and Mary and Ben are here to bring you the biggest plot bombshells of 2005. No seriously - this blew our minds then and it blew our minds and it's great and we hope you all love it as much as we do!

Come for the mysterious visions and XANA-fied possessions and words of Jim wisdom, and stay to hear Mike scratching on things he shouldn't be scratching on! (That's right. I am SHAMING you, cat, live on the Internet.)

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Questions? Comments? Email us at rttppodcast@gmail.com or follow us on Twitter at @rttppodcast. Or find our bonus content at our Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/supernucleargroup

Sorry this one's up so late, folks! We recorded it a bit late in the week, and as you will see, it was a bit more edit-intensive than the usual garden-variety Code Lyoko Retrospective!

This week, we've hopped back into the Recreation Pod to gush about Code Lyoko ephemera! Unfortunately Ben was not able to join us, BUT Mary and David are gonna give you the scoop (a super scoop) on the real, actual Subdigitals CD, which in French is one of the series' lost gems and in English is... it's an album of music, that's for sure.

Mary also takes a quick dip into L'Interface Fictionelle du Supercalculateur de Code Lyoko, aka IFSCL, to see what's up with the fan-made Code Lyoko supercomputer simulator! Verdict: It's the Code Lyoko video game we all deserve and everyone should play it. Expect more updates as time goes on (or perhaps some streams...?)

We also read a hilarious Code Lyoko fanfic about Burger King, and share some exciting news about Season 4's scripts! (If that wasn't enough, you also get to learn about Mary's mysterious past with songs about toast.)

Season two keeps the party going by addressing many an internet snarkster's biggest question about the show: why can't these giant-headed freaks instantly resolve every plot point by abusing their magical time machine? Another question answered: how would Odd and Ulrich sound spouting family-friendly mid-2000s misogyny?

Anyway, this is the show's Groundhog Day episode, and to celebrate, we'll be recycling all our old jokes. Hah! Just kidding! We do that in every episode.

Not recycled: spider evaluations, bodybuilder Aelita, and sucking your brains out through a bendy straw.

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Questions? Comments? Email us at rttppodcast@gmail.com or follow us on Twitter at @rttppodcast. Or find our bonus content at our Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/supernucleargroup

It's The Trap all over again as Mary, Ben, and David find themselves blown away by an episode all three of them remembered as ho-hum.

Marvel at the spontaneous appearance of Yumi's little brother, Hiroki (that's right - there is another Boi that Here Come)! Chuckle knowingly at the first instance of Jim's beloved* catchphrase!

And delight as our conversation inevitably turns to Jospeh Pujol (if you don't know who that is, don't look him up; it'll spoil the surprise) and ever more mid-2000s memes you thought you'd never see again.

* The catchphrase is, in fact, not beloved at all.

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Questions? Comments? Email us at rttppodcast@gmail.com or follow us on Twitter at @rttppodcast. Or find our bonus content at our Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/supernucleargroup

HEY YOU GUYS! We're missing Ben this week, as he had some circumstances beyond his control come up. So it's just Mary and David in this one, here to keep you on the up and up and make out a WHOLE bunch!

This week, with their sexy new money, the Code Lyoko crew has gone and built us a brand-new sector. I hope you like blue rectangles! We also get schooled on the Tunic - pardon me, PUNIC Wars, finally hear Franz Hopper's name spoken aloud, forget things about the episode we REALLY should have remembered, and do our level best to protect Aelita from all the bullies ever.

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Questions? Comments? Email us at rttppodcast@gmail.com or follow us on Twitter at @rttppodcast. Or find our bonus content at our Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/supernucleargroup

We're so excited to bring this to you AND so excited to talk about all the new stuff that this episode introduces. New intros and outros! Vehicles on Lyoko! Aelita (Stones) as a full-time student! New monsters! Scary wolf visions! A bearded man with opaque glasses playing childrens' tunes on a hallucination-piano! Sweet flips on Lyoko!

And of course DAT BOI, William Dunbar! Although you could view this entire episode as the Abstract Concept of Dat Boi, given how much here come. (Anyway, William's a creep and we dissect this thoroughly.)

We're also excited because this is another episode where two of us are in the same room! Mary and Ben, to be exact! Featuring special guest hosts Mike, who sat in a chair nearby sleeping the entire time, and Ike, who was under the bed, terrified of us. (They are both cats.)

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We're calling on all our listeners to provide as much assistance as they can to disaster-affected areas! Click here to find CharityNavigator's recommendations for relief donations. https://www.charitynavigator.org/

Have you ever found yourself thinking, 'Gee, Return to the Past sure is a swell podcast, but there's entirely too much of that pesky Code Lyoko?' You're in luck! For our season one afterparty, we're talking about everything but!

Well, that's not entirely true. We are going over our episode rankings and pass a final verdict on season one. Did your favorite Lyoko adventure make the top five? Tune in to find out!

Also featured: extended musings on a couple of our other fandoms. Expect a deluge of nerdy terminology you thought you'd never hear again (the word 'classpect' is prominently featured. You are advised against taking a shot when you hear it.).

We're also launching our Patreon today! For a one-dollar monthly subscription, you'll have access to a host of new goodies and features too shiny for the proletariat masses. Click here for the full scoop. We'd like to argue about cartoons full time someday, so your patronage is definitely appreciated.

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We're calling on all our listeners to provide as much assistance as they can to disaster-affected areas! Click here to find CharityNavigator's recommendations for relief donations. https://www.charitynavigator.org/

For our season one finale, we've pulled out all the stops: Dangan Ronpa references, raging debates about Hufflepuff House, and the feasibility of making Jim and Principal Delmas lookalikes kiss each other in Dream Daddy. Which brings us to this thing called Code Lyoko! Have you heard of it? It's pretty neato. We actually talk about it a little, too.

Aelita's here, Kankrelats are running amok in 2D meatspace, and Mary and David just can't seem to stop making out! We're rounding out the season in a cavalcade of cuteness, excitement, and spirited discussion. So give us your clicks and let the good times roll!

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We're calling on all our listeners to provide as much assistance as they can to disaster-affected areas! Click here to find CharityNavigator's recommendations for relief donations. https://www.charitynavigator.org/

There's a new showrunner in town, and Madame S is NOT fooling around when it comes to spinning continuity out of, well, you've seen what this show's been like so far! It's the dawn of a new era left and right - you can't trip on the sidewalk in this one without falling on a status quo change!

Join Mary, David, and Ben as they flip out and get super excited about Aelita because there's SO much good to come now that she's out in two dimensions!

(We also make fun of the way Yumi's dad eats noodles and establish some rules for Ben's dating prospects.)

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We're calling on all our listeners to provide as much assistance as they can to disaster-affected areas! Click here to find CharityNavigator's recommendations for relief donations. https://www.charitynavigator.org/

The jury's still out on whether this is the best episode of the series, but boy is it a rich vein what we tap here. It's a killer premise, a killer execution, and an amazing (and unfortunately unique) look into the mind and motivations of a villain who almost never gives up those secrets. It's bold. It's brash. It certainly does NOT belong in the trash!

AND NOT ONLY THAT, but we have done it. We have made up for our past transgressions and crammed MANY, SO MANY Spongebob, Homestuck, and even Homestar references into this one. You will be FLOORED at the sheer EXTENT of our pop culture savvy and also how absolutely ADORABLE we all are. (We would totally be talking about Hiveswap except we recorded this a week ago. WATCH THIS SPACE.)

Also Mary forgot to switch Audacity to pick up her mic so her audio quality is not the best again. Sorry!

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We're calling on all our listeners to provide as much assistance as they can to disaster-affected areas! Click here to find CharityNavigator's recommendations for relief donations. https://www.charitynavigator.org/

We're calling on all our listeners to provide as much assistance as they can to disaster-affected areas! Click here to find CharityNavigator's recommendations for relief donations. https://www.charitynavigator.org/

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Here it is, guys: our first ever crossover episode! The hosts of Going Digital, a Digimon recap podcast, join us for double the digital cartoon nonsense. Would Ty and his pals make good Lyoko Warriors? Could Ulrich beat up a Charmandler (that's a Digimon, right)? These, and many other exciting questions, will not be addressed in the slightest.

Join Sporky, Garrett, and Davide - as well as the usual gang of jokers: Mary, Ben, and David (no e) - as we talk crap about one of the lamest episodes of Code Lyoko so far. Possibly ever. Yay!

It's a cavalcade of ambiguous plotting, recycled animation, phoned-in voice acting, and for the first time ever, racism as the show introduces a new black character and immediately has her commit a crime. (Hey, the world wasn't always the post-racial utopia we live in today.)

Here it is, folks. The Big One. The Smooch That Never Was. The moment you've all been waiting for and continue to wait for as you silently curse Aelita for cutting it off.

Join Mary, David, and Ben as they navigate the wild and wacky waters of time travel fatigue and the sweet sauce of heavy handed teen drama, distilled here into its purest, reddest form. And also talk about the usual nonsense like monkey chauffeurs and edit wars with the X-Files fandom.

Nobody knows where the Crotch Thrust Kid came from. Some say we never will. But when there's a soccer game that needs cheering, or a purple shirt that needs wearing, he'll be there, ready to move.

We, too, are ready to go, as we've finally reached the point in the show when the episodes are reliably good (at least until Cartoon Network starts calling the shots, but we'll get there when we get there). In addition to pelvic thrusts, this RTTP episode features amputated toes, Sass Queen Aelita, and 200% more cats. We also make a couple of important announcements!

Welcome back to the Rec Room! Every ten episodes, we take a break from recapping the show to talk turkey about the fandom/culture around it (as you would know if you'd been paying attention. This'll be on the quiz).

In this episode, we review two Code Lyoko YouTube gems: the infamous (though possibly to nobody but us) Movie Quote Dub and the review by renowned cringelord Pan Pizza. We're also addressing one of our listeners' questions: if we could reboot the show, what would we do differently?

Also featured: awkwardly trying to remember things from Xiaolin Showdown, Ben plugging yet another adorable fanfic, and finding ways to make the show gayer than it ever was.